It is possible that every time you have seen the concept of “white balance” you have jumped with a scary face directly to the next setting, to the next article, to the next chapter of the book. I understand you perfectly ;-). It is a concept that creates drowsiness even before having reached the " s " of whites hehe.
But the truth is that it is so easy to use it, so easy to understand and use it in your favor when taking photographs, that passing by is almost a sacrilege, because the white balance is nothing more than the dominant color of an image . Surely you've ever looked with surprise at a photo that has been blue or orange. How strange, right? if when you looked through the viewfinder you saw a perfectly white light (or normal, come on ...).
That is because our eye is able to perfectly process different color temperatures (or dominant) without being unchanged, but the truth is that the sensors at the moment are not up to par, let's go as usual, the human being, At the moment, he wins the machine ;-).
That said, let's look deeply and easily, what is white balance, what it is used for and, above all, how it can help you improve your photographs.
WHAT IS WHITE BALANCE?
White balance (WB) is the way we have to balance an image in terms of the dominant color. Ideally, this dominant be neutral, that is, white, which in real life is roughly equivalent to the light of the central hours of the day or to the flash light, which is also considered neutral.
Each type of light and every moment of the day, although not always evident at first sight, has a dominant color, which we also know as color temperature. The color temperature is measured in degrees kelvin, and they are classified in warmer temperatures (sunsets, for example), colder temperatures (cloudy days) or neutral (we have already mentioned the intermediate hours of the day).
Cold or bluish color temperature.
For practical purposes, what it is about is that all those tones that are not neutral, end up being so ;-).
HOW DO YOU ADJUST THE WHITE BALANCE?
And you will say: «Ok. Very good, but how is it done? ” Well, it's very simple, compensating each other. That is, if you have a scene that is too warm, you will have to add a little cold and, if instead, you have an image that is too cold, you should add some heat. As simple as that. This is what your camera's automatic white balance essentially does.
The above graphic shows more or less all the options that cameras offer us to adjust the white balance manually. From left to right we would have the tungsten lights (the indoor ones), the next symbol corresponds to the fluorescent light, the next to the flash, the sun at midday light, the cloud on a cloudy day and, finally, the emoticon of Shadows.
AND HOW DO I KNOW WHICH LIGHT IS COLD OR WARM IF I SEE THEM ALL THE SAME?
I would say that with that you learn that the interior lights are warm (in general), that flash and noon lights are neutral, and that the shadows or cloudy days are cold, you have more than enough, although if you want to deepen a little, Here is the list of the most common lights with their respective color temperatures (the lowest values correspond to the warmest lights, and the highest values to the coldest):
1700 K: Light of a match
1850 K: Candle Light
2700–3300 K: Incandescent or tungsten light (conventional home lighting)
Well, although we are very fans of the absolute control of the camera parameters, the truth is that the automatic white balance mode (AWB) works quite well on most occasions. It is highly recommended especially when the lights are changing.
If, on the contrary, you are going to move for a while in a homogeneous environment in terms of type of lights (for example, inside the house) and you can afford it, it is best that you configure it manually to ensure a good Outcome. Whether or not the automatic mode of your camera is good, you will always be better ;-).
Warm color temperature
RAW MAGIC
If you are a lover of the RAW format you will love to know that it is not only the format in which you get more information for processing (and, therefore, higher quality), but it is also the format that allows you to correct the white balance of the image in the processing without loss of quality.
That is, if you are working in RAW, do not worry about white balance until you get to the processing ;-). There you can adjust it in a simple way as you consider and just by moving a cursor :-).
SHOULD AN IMAGE ALWAYS BE NEUTRAL?
No, the truth is that no ;-). Personally, I think that in most images the grace is that the colors are as faithful as possible to the reality you intend to capture. For example, does it make sense to eliminate the warmth of a sunset? If precisely grace is in the warmth of its light, right?
But the white balance is also a field of personal experimentation that can help you develop your own expressive and creative path towards the image. Adding warmth or coldness to your images is a way like any other to give free rein to your creativity, to boost your message, in short, to look for your photographic discourse.
What do you think? Did you already know the white balance? If not, I hope I have approached him in the most enjoyable way possible ;-). And remember, if you liked it, share it so that someone else can benefit from it. Thank you very much and see you next time :-).
